Lefty Owen Voigt, an ex-Barrington tennis player, the right fit for tennis star John Isner
NEWPORT — This particular text message piqued Owen Voigt’s curiosity.
The former boys tennis standout at Barrington High and current college player at Boston University was in demand. His time in the ticket office here at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open was about to be interrupted.
Four-time champion John Isner had a pair of left-handed players in his half of the tournament draw and was looking for a specific type of hitting partner. Becky Silva, the longtime ballkid supervisor here who also oversees the practice courts, had someone in mind. She turned to a certain southpaw who started working for her when he was 10.
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“I jumped right in,” Voigt said. “Luckily it went well the first day. He asked me back because he had another lefty to play.
“It’s been really cool.”
So began the latest chapter of Voigt’s decade-long experience here. His junior career included multiple USTA events on the grass. Director of tennis Bill Mountford is a Terrier alum – Voigt had visited the grounds previously with his teammates.
“A lot of the players on my team, it was their first time playing on grass,” Voigt said. “It was cool to kind of show my roots coming to Newport.”
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Voigt took the chance to introduce himself and Mountford offered him a role as a summer teaching professional. He’s added time on the corporate side over the last couple months, testing what will eventually be a degree in business administration and management. Voigt quickly switched out his white polo shirt for practice gear when given the opportunity to stand across the net from the former No. 8 player in the world.
“There’s something just different coming off the racket with them,” Voigt said. “It’s so clean and so consistent. They can pretty much do anything they want with their rackets and the ball.”
Voigt was tasked with simulating a pair of different scouting reports ahead of Isner’s first two matches. Alex Bolt mirrors his style a bit — Voigt is a fairly traditional power player off the ground. Corentin Moutet is more of a shotmaker, with slices and sharp angles serving as staples of his game.
Justin Gimelstob offered a couple quick tips prior to each session. Isner’s coach relayed them to Voigt and away they went. A three-set battle against Bolt was followed by Wednesday’s relatively routine 6-3, 6-4 triumph against Moutet.
“I’m a little lefty – (Moutet is) very lefty,” Voigt said. “John and Justin Gimelstob asked me when I was serving to put a lot of slice on it – give him different looks. I tried to change it a little bit.”
Voigt was a team state champion with the Eagles and helped Boston University reach the Patriot League finals in the spring. He’s a tough player against any recreational opponent – matching strokes with the likes of Isner was a different challenge entirely. The 6-foot-10 veteran dialed up a couple of his trademark booming serves, and Voigt hadn’t faced anything like it previously.
“That was stressful,” Voigt said. “He definitely went easy on me, but it’s coming in from such a different angle. I’m reaching up by my head – I just tried to block it back.”
Isner had been bounced in the first round of his previous six tournaments. February’s run to the finals in Dallas was followed by five winless months, including defeats at the French Open and Wimbledon. Isner snapped that skid this week in a place that’s generally been good to him – he lifted the Van Alen Cup in 2011, 2012, 2017 and 2019.
Could there be a late extended run of success in store for Isner? A broken left wrist and some knee trouble have slowed him since the end of last summer. The early part of the week here showed the 38-year-old still has the weapons and the desire to compete at a high level.
“I could definitely sense when I was hitting with him that he and Justin weren’t just having him warm up,” Voigt said. “They were really working on things – footwork, shot selection. It seemed like he really wanted it.”
On Twitter: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Barrington's Owen Voigt helps out tennis star John Isner
